Krylov's short fable, the rooster and the grain of pearls. Rooster and pearl grain

Rooster and pearl grain drawing

Fable of the Rooster and the Pearly Grain read the text

I will dung up a bunch of tearing,
The Rooster Found the Pearly Seed
And says:
"Where is it?
What an empty thing!
Isn't it stupid that he is so highly valued?
And I would really be much more glad
Barley grain: it is not so visible,
Yes, satisfying."

The ignoramuses judge exactly like this:

Moral of the Rooster and the Pearly Seed fable

The ignoramuses judge exactly like this:
What they don’t understand, then everything is a trifle with them.

Moral in your own words, the main idea and meaning of the fable The Rooster and the Pearly Grain

It happens that people have a treasure in their hands, but they do not understand it.

Analysis of the fable Rooster and Pearly grain

In this fable, the categorical thinking and the value system of different segments of the population are well shown. What for one person is a sign of elitism and privilege, for another is rubbish, which will not be useful in a simple life. The rooster in this work personifies the poor class or peasants who only need food and the solution of urgent momentary problems. For him, the pearl has no value, it cannot be eaten, it does not bring quick benefits and cannot satiate the finder. But barley grain could at least satisfy hunger a little and would be of great value to a rooster.

Here is the categorization of thinking, he does not see a quick benefit from a pearl, for him it has no more value than a pebble. For him, the world is divided into two categories "edible" and "inedible". Even if we accept that the rooster is anthropomorphic and lives in society, then its social status is very low, and most likely it would not work out for him to benefit from the sale of a pearl. Further, he does not see aesthetic value in it, he does not like it even in appearance and is not functional. It cannot be used in everyday life, it is neither a tool nor a cutlery. You can’t blame the rooster for this, he won’t wear it, he won’t sell it either. What else can he do with the pearl? If we take military and post-war times, then a piece of bread was valued much more than any decoration. The rooster is shown not only as narrow-minded, but also as a practical subject more adapted to life.

The author raises a more philosophical problem, that even after finding something of value in real life, be it a gem or a great philosophical treatise. A simple layman will not be able to understand the full value of a thing that he stumbled upon by chance. What would be of value to him would be what surrounds him in a simple life.

Digging in a pile of manure, a rooster finds a grain of pearls. But since he does not need it, he says that it would be better if he found barley grain.

Heroes of the fable (characters)

  • Rooster
  • pearl grain
  • dunghill

Listen to Krylov's Fable Rooster and Pearly Grain

text read by I. Kozlov

Krylov's fable - The Rooster and the Pearly Grain - is one of the smallest Krylov's fables, ironic and truly childish. The rooster who found the seed shows his complete ignorance, although he considers himself very important.

Fable of the Rooster and the Pearly Seed read

I will dung up a bunch of tearing,
The Rooster Found the Pearly Seed
And says:
"Where is it?
What an empty thing!
Isn't it stupid that he is so highly valued?
And I would really be much more glad
Barley grain: it is not so visible,
Yes, satisfying."

The ignoramuses judge exactly like this:

Moral of the Rooster and the Pearly Seed fable

The ignoramuses judge exactly like this:
What they don’t understand, then everything is a trifle with them.

Fable Rooster and Pearly grain - analysis

Any student can easily analyze Krylov's fable The Rooster and the Pearl Grain. The structure of the fable is classical, the moral is clearly expressed in the last two lines. It should be noted that the fable of the Rooster and the pearl grain is not Krylov's own work, he just stated the famous Aesop's fable in Russian, but this does not change the essence.

The main idea is this: ignorant or, simply speaking, not very smart people, not knowing the meaning or not understanding it in relation to any things, consider them useless. For all that, exaggerating the importance of everyday objects. So the Rooster, personifying loudness and stupidity in the fable, does not admire the beauty of the Pearl, but is able to think only about his own dinner.

Usually there is no difficulty in interpreting such a small work as Krylov's fable. “The Rooster and the Pearl Seed” is no exception here, but if someone suddenly has problems in the process of interpretation, then we suggest that you familiarize yourself with our understanding of this text.

Plot

The rooster was digging in the dunghill and found a pearl grain. The hero did not understand that a treasure fell into his hands (or wings), and began to complain about fate and say that he would be more happy with an edible find, and in general, pearls are an empty and useless object.

Ivan Andreevich took care of the reader’s nerves, therefore, in the last two lines of Krylov’s work (meaning the fable) “The Rooster and the Pearly Grain”, morality is placed.

Morality

When a person does not understand something, then even if the majority likes this subject, he will not find anything important, beautiful and useful in it. Rather, he will declare a thing (or phenomenon) rubbish, and he will certainly do it loudly and publicly in order to show his “awareness”.

It is not difficult to understand who the author's critical arrows are aimed at. Krylov's fable "The Rooster and the Pearly Grain" exposes the ignorant. They do not want to know anything new, do not have the curiosity to explore the unknown and at the same time tend to pass off their ignorance as a "dissenting opinion".

I.A. Krylov and Socrates

The analogy suggests itself, doesn't it? Only a wise man can openly admit his ignorance in some matter. Socrates said: "I only know that I know nothing." Why did the Greek treat himself without due respect? It's very simple: the more a person knows, the more he realizes how little he really knows. The sphere of ignorance is expanding along with the sphere of knowledge, and the first is much larger than the second, and the process of expanding these spaces is potentially endless. But what is obvious to the sage is a mystery shrouded in darkness to the ignorant. And Krylov's fable "The Rooster and the Pearly Grain" does not tell about the sage.

Why do people persist in their delusion?

Of course, it is clear that a person should be governed by noble motives (the desire for truth, for example), but in fact he is completely surrendered to the power of fear, man is his slave. If we remember, then for most of our lives we are afraid: first, “babies” in a dark corner, then that we will fail the exam (at school, institute), then that we won’t find a job, then that we won’t pay off the loan. And finally, someone is simply afraid of death, sudden death.

People become so accustomed to fear that it poisons even such a wonderful occupation as knowledge. A man, even here, cannot grow wings and get off the ground, forgetting the sorrows of the earthly vale; instead, he is constantly worried even about what is beyond his control. Such is the man.

But most do not have such a refined fear. Usually people are very afraid of being wrong, because everyone thinks that his life is the best, and his experience is priceless, and only wise men do not care about their lives, and experience, and their rightness in the eyes of the majority, because their soul is given to knowledge.

And all these arguments only at first glance seem far from what Krylov wrote. "The Rooster and the Pearly Seed" (like any fable) is a deeply philosophical work that affects several layers of being at once.

The fable "The Rooster and the Pearly Seed" is very popular. It is interesting that a fable with this name exists in the interpretation of many famous fabulists, starting with the ancient Greek Aesop, whose fable was written in prose and ending with the famous Russian fabulist I.A. Krylov. It was he who translated this fable of La Fontaine into Russian.

Fable "Rooster and Pearly Grain"

I will dung up a bunch of tearing,
The Rooster Found the Pearly Seed
And he says: "Where is it,
What an empty thing!
Isn't it stupid that he is so highly valued?
And I would really be much more glad
Barley grain: it is not so visible,
Yes, it's satisfying."

The ignoramuses judge exactly like this:
What is the point they do not understand, then everything is a trifle for them.

Moral of the fable "Rooster and Pearly Seed"

The moral of the fable "The Rooster and the Pearly Grain" in accordance with the rules of the fable genre was deduced by the author at the end of the fable. It consists of two short lines: "The ignoramuses judge exactly in this way, what they don't understand, then everything is a trifle with them." An ignoramus is a poorly educated person with superficial judgments. La Fontaine ridicules narrow-minded and limited people who look at everything in life through the prism of usefulness, do not strive to develop their minds, considering knowledge to be useless.

Analysis of the fable "Rooster and Pearly Grain"

The fable "The Rooster and the Pearly Seed" has a classical structure. A short allegorical story ends with an instructive conclusion. There is one character in the fable - the Rooster, which personifies the ignorant. The unusual find of the Rooster is a precious pearl. True connoisseurs would appreciate it. But the Rooster does not need a pearl, for him it is a trifle. He does not understand what a pearl grain can be valued for. He prefers barley grain, seeing more benefits in it. After all, it will fit for lunch.

This is how ignorant people, people far from knowledge, science, consider reading books, studying science as a waste of time. The author condemns the ignorant who do not strive for knowledge, and cover up their stupidity and ignorance with high-flown reasoning. Also, the moralizing of the fable can also apply to the inhabitants who live in their narrow world, in a circle of narrow, convenient for them, concepts and relationships. Such people understand only those similar to themselves, and everything that goes beyond their concepts and ideas - "then everything is a trifle for them."

Winged expressions from La Fontaine's fable "The Rooster and the Pearly Grain"

Currently, none of the phrases of the fable is used outside of the author's text by Jean de La Fontaine.